How Apple may give NFC the boost it needs in 2012

NFC Technology Mobile Payments Infrastructure

Apple Mobile Payments NFC
Although there is a tremendous amount of talk about smartphones that are enabled with near field communication (NFC), the actual market for the technology remains quite small.

However, this is expected to change in 2012, if iPhone and Windows Phone 7 devices by Apple and Microsoft are released equipped with NFC technology.

Some experts, such as those at Digitimes – which is predicting that those two manufacturers will be joining with Android, Blackberry, Symbian, and Bada in the NFC environment – have announced that after discussing the topic with smartphone makers in Taiwan, the number of the devices with the technology will skyrocket from less than 10 percent – which is the current figure – to over 50 percent within the next three years.

That said, Digitimes’ sources also indicated that there are a number of issues that need to be ironed out in the industry before NFC can become mainstream, such as commercial operations, the standardizing of the specifications, and the function of the ecosystem as a whole.

It doesn’t shock anyone that Apple and Microsoft would pursue NFC in 2012. In fact, on the Windows side, the president of Windows Phone, Andy Lees, already announced at the AsiaD conference in November that consumers should expect it in their upcoming devices. Reports from iPhone also stated that though the latest version of the iPhone did not contain the technology, there likely would be a new product with NFC in 2012.

Should this actually occur, it will greatly solidify NFC’s future. Especially with the participation of Apple, which is in a significant position to demonstrate what the technology is truly capable of providing.

Leave a Comment


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.